6 file for on Day 1 Tribal Council

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LUMBERTON — Six people filed on Monday for seats on the Lumbee Tribal Council, including current Speaker Pearlean Revels, who is now banned from tribal property after being accused of taking financial documents from the Tribal Housing Complex.

Monday was the first day to file for one of the seven council seats up for election on Nov. 12.

Revels, who has served as the 21-member council’s speaker the past two years, filed for re-election to the District 3 seat. She did not supply The Robesonian with any biographical information.

She was accused last week of taking a 2,000-page financial ledger from the tribal office. Revels has told The Robesonian she took the information, but said she turned it over to a Supreme Court judge.

Barbara Hunt, 61, a local business woman, filed to run for the council’s District 2 seat currently held by Louise Mitchell. Mitchell is not up for re-election because the tribe’s constitution limits anyone from serving more than two consecutive three-year terms.

She has owned and operated Hunt’s Logging Company for 35 years, and has attended New Point Baptist Church for 42 years, where she teaches Sunday school.

Hunt said she helped draft the tribe’s constitution.

“My desire is to reunite the Lumbee people,” she said. “I’d like to see our tribe move forward with federal recognition.”

Frances Chavis, of Fairmont, also filed for the District 2 seat. Chavis, 62, is a former member of the council, having served for six years.

A Pembroke native, she graduated from Pembroke High Schol. She is currently employed with We Care For You, a home health care agency.

Chavis said that her priority is to see that the tribe’s seniors and young people receive the housing and other services they deserve.

“… Serving on the Tribal Council for six years gives me the experience needed to represent District 2,” she said. “My passion for helping others, coupled with my experience on the council, makes me your qualified candidate for District 2.”

Others filing Monday were: Areatha Patterson, District 12; Alton Locklear Jr., District 3; and Daniel James Jones, District 8. None of them provided The Robesonian with any biographical information.

Candidates can file at the tribe’s elections office on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The filing period ends on Sept. 13.

Tribal Council candidates must be enrolled tribal members of at least 21 years of age; have maintained their principal residence in their district for no less than one year; and have no felony conviction.

The filing fee for a council candidate is $250.

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